Abstract
BACKGROUND: Taxi drivers work long hours for low wages and report hypertension, weight gain, and musculoskeletal pain associated with the sedentary nature of their job, stressful working conditions, and poor dietary habits. They also experience a high work-related fatality rate.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to examine the association of taxi drivers' health status and level of job stress with work-related injury and determine if a potential interaction exists.
METHODS: A survey of 309 Los Angeles taxi drivers provides basic data on health status, job stress, and work-related injuries. We further analyzed the data using a Modified Poisson regression approach with a robust error variance to estimate the relative risk (RR) and the 95% confidence intervals (CI) of work-related injuries. Focus group results supplemented and helped interpret the quantitative data.
RESULTS: The joint effect of good health and low job stress was associated with a large reduction in the incidence of injuries, consistent with the hypothesis that health status and stress levels modify each other on the risk of work-related injury.
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the combination of stress reduction and health management programs together with changes in the stressful conditions of the job may provide targeted avenues to prevent injuries.